CLEVELAND — A hair-cutting attack on an Amish bishop left him so ashamed that he stopped
preaching and refused to attend a family wedding because he didn’t want anyone to see him without
his beard, his son testified yesterday at the trial of 16 Amish men and women accused of carrying
out a series of hate crimes on church leaders in Ohio.

In the minutes after the surprise encounter last fall, Andy Hershberger said, he looked toward
his 77-year-old father. Gray clumps of hair from the beard his father had grown since marriage
covered the floor where he sat.

“He was shaking all over,” Hershberger said. “He was crying and crying.”

Federal prosecutors say that a dispute between the leader of a breakaway Amish group and other
bishops who sought to overrule his authoritarian methods led to the hair- and beard- cutting
attacks that struck fear into Ohio’s normally peaceful Amish community.

Those accused of planning and taking part in the attacks targeted the hair and beards of Amish
bishops because of its spiritual significance in the faith, prosecutors said. Most Amish men do not
shave their beards after marriage, believing it signifies their devotion to God.

Prosecutors say there were five different attacks last fall, orchestrated by Sam Mullet Sr., who
two decades ago established an Amish settlement outside the tiny town of Bergholz, near the West
Virginia panhandle. All of the defendants, who live in the settlement, could face lengthy prison
terms if convicted on charges that include conspiracy and obstructing justice. Mullet has denied
ordering the hair-cutting but said he didn’t stop anyone from carrying it out.

Attorneys for the defendants have not denied that the hair cuttings took place and said in
opening statements that members of the breakaway group took action out of compassion and concern
that some Amish were straying from their beliefs. The attorneys also contended that the Amish are
bound by different rules guided by their religion and that the government shouldn’t get involved in
what amounted to a family or church dispute.